We’ve seen a lot of augmented reality apps coming out lately, but Celeste SE is one of our favorites. With its impressive visuals and tracking of our solar system, it’s easy to see how it scored a winning spot in ADC2.

This app has a lot of features to enjoy. You can track any celestial body in our solar system to find its location at any given time, on any day. This seems especially handy for those of you who enjoy catching a full moon, as it follows all of its phases and where it rises and sets. You can check out their website for full details about what Celeste SE has to offer.

You’ve probably all tried Google Sky Map, so you’ve got an idea of how this app works. After installation, it gives a brief walk-through to show you the basics. You point the camera, it uses GPS to overlay info. Watch the planets show up on your screen. Move your phone to focus on your celestial body of choice, and see facts come up that are relevant to your focus. A pop-up with the planet’s name will appear when you are close to it, let you select it, and cycle through many various facts about it.

The menu allows you different options for which planets you want to see, the time and date you prefer, and other options that allow you to customize your experience. A lot of reviews praise its responsiveness, which is a feature the developers really focused on:

We put a lot of time into making the application as responsive as possible, especially given that it uses like every sensor in the phone

You can find some screens below or scan the QR code up top to give it a try for yourself. Celeste SE is a paid app for $1.99, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Angie is a designer and illustrator living in Austin, Texas. She's a graduate of the Communication Design program at Texas State and joined us full-time after a two-year run at a design firm here in Austin.

This app is awesome! It’s cool to point the phone at your feet and see the moon there. It’s also handy to verify whether that celestial body you’re looking at is actually Mars. Call BS on that nerd who thinks he knows all the planets in the sky!

Seems the app has been removed. It has also ceased to work on my desire. It was fantastic until two or three days ago and now the sun is locked on the top left of my screen no matter where I point the camera. Shame.

This app is awesome! It’s cool to point the phone at your feet and see the moon there. It’s also handy to verify whether that celestial body you’re looking at is actually Mars. Call BS on that nerd who thinks he knows all the planets in the sky!

Seems the app has been removed. It has also ceased to work on my desire. It was fantastic until two or three days ago and now the sun is locked on the top left of my screen no matter where I point the camera. Shame.